QR (Quick Response) codes are a type of matrix barcode, commonly used to store text and links, which can be scanned and read by smartphone apps. They're now appearing just about everywhere, and if you want to join in then Alternate QR Code Generator makes it very easy to create codes of your own.

At a minimum, you can just enter the text you'd like to include, and click "Generate" to see the appropriate code.

There are also a range of options which could help to improve the code's reliability. Increasing pixel width or error correction level, for example, will make the code larger, but also ensure that it can sustain more damage while still being readable. You can change the background and foreground colours, too, which also may be useful in some situations (if the code is being printed on coloured paper, say).

Verdict:

Alternate QR Code Generator is an extremely simple tool which can quickly produce codes with its default settings, but also provides enough tweaks to cope with a range of different situations.

There's a vast amount to learn, of course, and that's even before you start building your game. But there's plenty of documentation, tutorials, demos and sample projects to point you in the right direction.

The package is now entirely free, too - no annoying limitations, nag screens or anything else. Epic now only requires that you pay a 5% royalty after the first $3,000 of revenue per product per quarter. And even then, you "pay no royalty for film projects, contracting and consulting projects such as architecture, simulation and visualization."